The Transfer Tavern

Liverpool fans back Sadio Mane as Jurgen Klopp’s best Liverpool signing so far

Much of the talk around Liverpool has naturally been around their big-name summer signings and the added pressure that comes with them. Indeed, with the Reds having pumped a huge amount of investment into their squad, a genuine title challenge is in order.

Clearly, the almost £200m spent this summer is the top line number people will remember, though it’s not as if FSG haven’t backed Jurgen Klopp since his appointment way back in 2015. There was the £75m signing of Virgil van Dijk in January, the purchase of Mo Salah last summer and, before that, the big money addition of Sadio Mane from Southampton.

Eyebrows were initially raised when the Merseyside giants shelled out around £34m to sign the Senegalese forward in 2016, though Mane has certainly proved his worth in front of the Kop. Already, he’s scored 37 goals in all competitions across 77 appearances, emerging as one of the most dangerous marksmen on the continent.

In fact, we recently asked our Liverpool supporting readers whether or not they thought Mane (now rated at £63m by Transfermarkt) was the best signing Klopp has made in charge of the club. The likes of Salah, van Dijk and potentially Naby Keita may end up running him close the longer they’re on Merseyside, though it seems the general consensus that Mane indeed is.

Interestingly, a huge 70% of polled fans back Mane as the best addition made in the Klopp era. Oh, how silly those who doubted him look now.